FMA guide on ICO and Tokens

The Austrian Financial Markets Authority, FMA, published a complete guide on ICOs. It follows a prior analysis on its "2018-2023 strategy report" and similar efforts of other regulators.

The FMA considers that the qualification of the operation of selling a cryptocurrency for a new project must be considered on a case by case basis. It acknowledges that the tokens sold in order to raise capital may have different nature:

Security tokens that confer a right to the buyer. They might imply licensing requirements and prospectus regulations under European regime and and Austrian specific laws (c.f. below)

Payment tokens that allow to pay for a service. They might trigger a licence requirement (E-money, PSD2, or banking)

Utility tokens that are connected to a particular product or service. The FMA seems to recognize the possibility of novel schemes ( co-design, social, ... ) but reminds that if it is used for payment or investment functions, usual regulations might apply